Archive for A Soldier of God Remembers

I never had a thought about writing a book. It is a lot of work and who cares what I would have to say? My co-endorser and CEO of The Grace Brethren Investment Fund would listen to my stories and repeatedly tell me that I needed to write a book. I will admit that, only by the Grace of God, I did have a remarkable career. The urging went on for nearly 4 years. I appreciated but sort of “blew off” the urging. Finally another person, an author, heard me speak and said the same thing. “You need to write a book.” I finally “caved in” early 2001 and began to think more seriously about such an intimidating and daunting project. It took some time to set up a plan on how the book might take shape. I was unaware of anyone/any chaplain, who had tried to capture a career in a book. With some fear and trepidation I sat down at the computer in an attempt to chronicle, in a meaningful way, my story. The plan I developed was to pick events that would give the reader a sense of the challenges a chaplain faces and how a sovereign God so powerfully intervened through these events. The fear I could not shake was that a book would never accomplish what I had hoped it would and that a first printing of a 1,000 copies would largely go untouched and would long be sitting in a warehouse gathering dust. To reinforce that feeling I was unable to generate any interest in any religious book store chains

To date we are on the downside of the third printing. In the process, through events too detailed, and wonderful at the same time, to mention here, it was published in Spanish. Today we are on the second printing (500) each time. The book is now in the hands of people in the Far East, Europe, Africa, Central and South America. Almost 3,500 copies are in circulation. Some of these copies, especially those that are in Spanish, have been received by some significantly high ranking officers in Central and South America. The feedback has been more than anything I could have dreamed. Lives have been, in some cases, deeply affected. A military official and a religious official both were seen with tears in their eyes in response to the book. I pray that the reader will not see me or the Army but, instead, a clear representation of our sovereign God who will work powerfully and dramatically in the lives of those who will commit their hopes and dreams to Him.